SNF took delivery of the two ferries, Akashia and Hamanasu, from the Nagasaki Shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in June.

They are the first ships in the World to apply CRP Azipod propulsion and operate on SNF's Maiduru-Otaru route.

Instead of a conventional rudder, each of the two 224.5 m, single-skeg vessels is equipped with a steerable 17.6 MW Azipod unit installed in a contrarotating mode aft of the mechanically driven main propeller.

The length of the route is 1,061 km (573 Nautical miles). Both ferries travel from Maiduru on the Honsyu Island to Otaru on Hokkaido in 20 hours and back in 21 hours. The unloading and loading time is 4 hours in Maiduru and 3 hours in Otaru.

The service speed of these ships is 29,4 knots, and the transportation capacity is about 15% less than that of Akashia and Hamanasu.

The older vessels were earlier temporarily in operation on the Maiduru  Otaru route. The schedule was about the same as the operation was done on the basis of a 24-hour schedule.

This gives an excellent opportunity for full-scale comparison of the fuel economy of CRP Azipod propulsion and that of a conventional shaft-line arrangement:

After three months of operation with Akashia and Hamanasu, SNF reports that the two shaft line ships (with 15% lower transportation capacity) consumed over 20% more fuel to perform the same service as the new ferries with CRP Azipod propulsion. Operating costs of the new vessels are expected to be further reduced through decreased costs related to maintenance